MohonriM
Why I build my own computers
I recently did a system restore for a friend, returning their HP machine to its factory-fresh state (plus all their data). Here is the Start->Programs menu after restoring the OS from the restore partition. Only a couple additional applications (iTunes, Scoutmate, a couple others) were added to the stock install. In fact, I had already removed several applications before I realized how ridiculous this was and grabbed a screencap.
On a fresh boot, the OS and startup applications occupied close to 450MB of RAM and over 60 processes. After a couple hours of work, I got that amount down to about 270. I could have continued to remove all the unnecessary applications and cruft, but once I had the boot-up time and memory use down to something approaching sanity, I realized I was hitting the point of diminishing returns.
What bugs me most is that there was no easy or uniform way to get rid of all the extra junk that came with the system image. A few, but not many, applications could be removed using the Add/Remove applet in the Control Panel. Others had shortcuts in their respective folders in the Start Menu. Some required running an uninstall program that was located in the program directory, but had no other link. Some offered no automated means of removal whatsoever.
Why I build my own computers
I recently did a system restore for a friend, returning their HP machine to its factory-fresh state (plus all their data). Here is the Start->Programs menu after restoring the OS from the restore partition. Only a couple additional applications (iTunes, Scoutmate, a couple others) were added to the stock install. In fact, I had already removed several applications before I realized how ridiculous this was and grabbed a screencap.
On a fresh boot, the OS and startup applications occupied close to 450MB of RAM and over 60 processes. After a couple hours of work, I got that amount down to about 270. I could have continued to remove all the unnecessary applications and cruft, but once I had the boot-up time and memory use down to something approaching sanity, I realized I was hitting the point of diminishing returns.
What bugs me most is that there was no easy or uniform way to get rid of all the extra junk that came with the system image. A few, but not many, applications could be removed using the Add/Remove applet in the Control Panel. Others had shortcuts in their respective folders in the Start Menu. Some required running an uninstall program that was located in the program directory, but had no other link. Some offered no automated means of removal whatsoever.